Last night’s episode of Modern Family brought us the municipal election Claire was running in, and unfortunately the results weren’t what she’d hoped for.
I’m glad Modern Family didn’t have Claire win a spot on City Council because, even though it would have been interesting to see her have a job, it wasn’t realistic. Claire’s campaign seemed virtually non-existent. Instead, we got to witness a nice little moment with Claire and Haley at the end of the episode.
Everything in the episode centered around election day, with the whole family trying to pitch in for Claire’s campaign…and failing miserably.
Alex ran the phone bank, and we discovered that Gloria is kind of useless over the phone. (Manny really shone, though). Cam and Mitch offered to drive around in a Claire-mobile, but they quickly abandoned making “The Choice is Claire” quips and instead went around dishing out advice and heckling businesses that had done them wrong. (That’s what Yelp is for, boys.) Phil was meant to drive old people around to the polls, only to spend the day taking Luke’s elderly friend Walt on errands. And Jay didn’t even vote for his own daughter, since the woman manning the poll station was an ex-lover he’d wronged.
Claire had her own struggles, since her fake tooth (old figure skating injury) kept falling out and she sounded drunk on the radio. Well, she sounded drunk to those who don’t know what her real drunk voice sounds like.
I thought Mitch and Cam’s storyline was the funniest, since the button on the megaphone inevitably broke and they ended up broadcasting their gossip about how Lily’s daycare teacher was marrying a gay man to the ENTIRE street, including the bride-to-be herself.
Claire didn’t win the election, and it was in that moment that Haley broke down and told her that she’d in fact been hiding all her college rejection letters from her parents. The last one had arrived, and she was too scared to open it. I liked seeing Haley in this light – instead of the vapid, ditzy girl who didn’t want to go to college she’s started trying in school and wants to get in. But once again Modern Family didn’t go the easy route. Claire didn’t win the election and Haley didn’t get into college – but she DID make the wait list, and they’ll take that for now.
Overall, I thought it was a solid, funny episode. I’m looking forward to what next week’s installment brings – I won’t spoil it for y’all, but the synopsis on Wikipedia has me intrigued. What did you guys think of “Election Day”?
Favorite quotes & moments:
- “The only good news I’ve gotten is that my annoying neighbor Becky is moving back East to Oregon.” – Haley (this is why she didn’t get in to college)
- “She feels great. Her spirits are high. The whole family’s high. There’s your headline!” – Phil
- Luke promising someone over the phone that if they vote for Claire they’ll never pay taxes again.
- “The Greeks do one thing right, and it’s lamb!” – Walt
- “I’ve seen you wait 45 minutes for sherbet.” – Gloria, when Jay says the line to vote is too long
- The dimpled Chad.
- Mitchell: “Oh my God, there’s Sandy.”
Cam: “Sandra Bullock?”
Mitchell: “Yeah we’re such good friends, I just call her Sandy.” - Walt had some great lines. On gay marriage not being required: “I’m a good dancer. They’ll come for me!” On Claire’s quest for a stop sign: “I didn’t fight in the war so that some politician could tell me where to stop my car!” And on no longer being allowed to drive: “Until Barack Obama took my license away!”
